A.I. =Goodbye
- Thread starter Bongo
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Bartc
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Either this is the creative apocalypse or a good example of why much pop music is generic and derivative. Take your pick.
If in this brave new world we are fed, clothed, cared for and entertained by this level of machine "creativity", we're doomed to become those hapless grownup children that were cannibalized by the mutants in Wells' Time Machine.
Is it wondrous? Yes. Is it good, meh. But that's just my opinion. (No AI was harmed in the writing of this post.)
If in this brave new world we are fed, clothed, cared for and entertained by this level of machine "creativity", we're doomed to become those hapless grownup children that were cannibalized by the mutants in Wells' Time Machine.
Is it wondrous? Yes. Is it good, meh. But that's just my opinion. (No AI was harmed in the writing of this post.)
brianvds
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AI is pretty good at writing some kinds of pop and country songs. I have yet to see an AI come anywhere close to writing something like, say, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, or Billy Joel's Italian Restaurant.
Same goes with classical music: AI can often make up pastiches of typical Beethoven or Mozart gestures, but cannot tie them together in a sensible musical narrative. At least not that I have heard.
Last but decidedly not last, AI seems not to have any idea of how to compose a really memorable melody. I have heard AI versions of Vangelis, that gets his typical sound right - but not a single melody in sight, or, er, hearing range. Maybe they're working on the problem even as we speak, but there is risk here: the more sophisticated AIs become, the greater the risk that they render the AI companies obsolete too, and all those nerds who had such a good laugh at artists will find themselves out of house and home too.
Anyway, maybe AI will get to the point where it can compose music, but it cannot give a human performance. People don't go to Taylor Swift concerts just to hear the music - the whole thing is a show, featuring a human celebrity. It may be that musicians will have to go back to doing what they have done for millennia before either recordings or AI existed, namely to give live performances. It means they won't get so rich anymore, but maybe that's not a bad thing.
Something analogous is the case in art: AI cannot really stand in the street and do a plein air painting, or attend a wedding and draw fun caricatures of guests or that sort of thing. A painting robot that could do these things will almost certainly not be as desirable as a human artist.
I foresee that people may get interested in the human touch again, and having AI art on your walls may come to be seen in the same light as having prints of Elvis on velvet.
But of course, no one can predict the future. Perhaps the kids growing up glued to their little screens will not care about anything but the mindless entertainment that increasingly sophisticated AIs pour over them. Maybe they'll even prefer it, precisely because it isn't human.
Whatever happens, it seems we're in for a wild ride. No doubt some people will simply embrace the AI thing, e.g. pop groups can have AI write their songs (for many groups, AI song writers may well be a godsend!), and painters may start using AI to generate reference photos.
But one should not go overboard with predictions. I well remember the time when microwave ovens were new, and everyone was cooking absolutely everything in the microwave, from fried eggs for breakfast to Sunday's mutton roast. It didn't really work, and soon people were back to traditional cooking methods. In the meantime, microwave ovens did not disappear. They found their niche, in which they are very handy things to have indeed. I see something similar happening now with air fryers.
My guess is, AI will be the same: it will find its niche, rather than putting an end to any and all human jobs. But we'll have to wait and see...
